Undone' and 'Clasp'
by shallowness
Summary: Wolverine finds Rogue in the XJet trying to deal with some of what’s happened to her. Post X2. 2 linked ficlets. COMPLETE
1. Undone

Disclaimer: These characters are not mine and I make no profit from them.

Notes: With thanks to lusmeilti and emmeredith for the beta. All idiocies are mine.

Undone: shallowness

Logan found her in the X-Jet, with only the light above her on, reflected in the brown ponytail that was threatening to fall over her shoulder. She was wearing the tight uniform again, her gloved hands working the seatbelt's clasp. And he got it, but asked anyway.

"What you doing, kid?"

A quick movement—her head rising and eyes widening. He was a pro, she might— would have heard someone else approach, he knew she knew better now than to let her defenses down, even in the X-Jet hangar. Especially here.

"I'm practicing," she said.

He just stood there—the answer wasn't enough and his stillness let her know it.

"If I'm gonna be a member of this team… I know you don't think I deserve to wear this uniform yet… but I need to know for me that I can buckle myself in, at least.

"I had problems with opera gloves, Logan. These are leather and I… we're going to be flying into dan— stressful situations," the southern lilt and the little glare were cute, but the intent behind them was adamantium-hard. "So I'm practicing."

He came towards her then, kneeling by the seat as he took her hands up in his, the action forcing her to let the strap and buckle go.

"They weren't your gloves, and maybe these aren't flexible enough for you either. So let's get some new ones made. Chuck'll understand."

She clasped his hands back, a quick pressure that he would remember a while.

END

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	2. Clasp

Disclaimer: These characters are not mine and I make no profit from them.

Notes: Sequel to 'Undone'. With thanks to lusmeilti and em meredith for the beta. All idiocies are mine.

Summary: Logan works out what Rogue and he are ready for.

Clasp: shallowness

He'd thought she wasn't ready once before, but Stryker had taken the timing out of his control, and she'd become part of the team.

Sometimes, he thought she wore the team uniform too well. It wasn't how she'd been when she'd tried on the new gloves that he had got brought for her, and stretched them on, flexing arms and hands in a gleeful little dance. He had been the only one who'd got to see that. Far as everyone else was concerned, the gloves were just a modification. Rogue had worked hard to prove that she was ready, learnt to fly the jet properly, until the day when she got a whole jolt of a dead woman's mutation and she could fly next to the X-Jet then. She seemed to think that it gave her the right to raise her eyebrows when she thought he was being overprotective, saying, "Sugar, I'm invincible now," emphasis hard on the sugar. But he never backed down, remembering the convulsions, and between them, the stream of words that were all someone else's, and his fear that he'd never see Marie's eyes again.

But he wasn't the one in charge of assigning mission duty. He hadn't been around when the call about a young kid in need had been received and Xavier had to scramble a team together, and had put her in charge.

"She's not ready." He had burst into the office to growl, still carrying his pack from his weekend's travels, still reacting to the reason for her not being there to greet him.

Xavier was calm in his answer, satisfied with being within reach of a comm device.

"There was nobody better qualified to lead this team. We couldn't wait for the others to return from Africa. Not even for you." It had been Marie herself who'd told him to at least take a cell.

"You trained her yourself, Logan. They will make contact with the girl within the hour."

At that, he'd swallowed whatever else he had to say. It was a done deal. But he stayed right at Xavier's side, hearing Jubilee's report that the pick up had gone smoothly, that the new modifications to the stealth of the jet were proving themselves again. It wasn't that he didn't believe that, or the regular reports that followed. It was just that she shouldn't be flying out without him, that he'd taken her being there to welcome him back for granted.

He left Chuck for the hangar, and glared at Jubes and the kid who was following her, simply because of who they weren't. Jubilee glared right back at him over the head of the new arrival, who was short, purple and smelled confused.

Rogue stepped out last, having taken her time to shut off every damned switch, just like Scooter'd taught her.

He stayed back, watched her ignore him and focus on Chuck and confirm the blandness of their reports. Everything had gone fine. Xavier nodded, wheeled off, leaving just them, the jet and a conversation brewing.

She finally looked at Logan and his crossed arms.

"Give me ten, and we can talk."

But even as she made the offer, he realized that it wasn't talking that he wanted, and quick and sudden he was close enough to hold her, his lips in her hair, in a way different to ever before.

"Logan?" With the question a gloved hand curved up to touch his cheek, and later, as the same hand undid his belt buckle with ease, he knew he was fucking never taking her for granted again.

End

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